The shelf life of a popstar – particularly a manufactured one – is brief at the best of times. But some stars, such as Madonna and Robbie Williams, have an acute sense of their own marketability, not to mention a hardcore following of fans to keep them at the cutting edge of pop culture. Kylie is another such artist; but what she has – in spades – that neither Robbie nor Mads can lay claim to – is innocence. Hah, you may scoff, as you remember the gold lamé hotpants the pint-sized Ozzie popstrel wore in her Spinning Around video – but it’s true. After a 14-year musical career, few people have the wide-eyed look of the first-timer about them that Kylie does, a look which has helped her amass a reported £13 million fortune.

Born in Melbourne on May 28, 1968, to a Welsh mother and accountant father, Kylie Minogue hitched a ride on the fame bus at a very early age. As a nipper she was appearing on Australian TV shows, but it wasn’t until 1985, when she won the part of Charlene in the Aussie soap opera Neighbours that things really started happening.

A star-crossed-lovers story line with fellow teen actor and then real-life boyfriend Jason Donovan, who played Scott, brought the tiny star to the attention of a new audience in Britain. Before long, Scott’n’Charlene-mania had swept the UK and Kylie, who had released a single Down Under, decided it was time to assault the British pop charts.

She enjoyed prodigious success with her first UK single, I Should Be So Lucky, entering the charts at Number One – some said it entered their brains never to exit, such was the tune’s catchiness – as did her subsequent releases. Then a slushy duet with Jason landed the pair the coveted Christmas Number One spot in 1988. A career as the golden girl-next-door didn’t hold much appeal for Kylie, however, and in 1991 she rolled out a raunchier new image. Some credit must be given to the singer’s then boyfriend, INXS frontman Michael Hutchence, who is believed to have been instrumental in Kylie’s metamorphosis into SexKylie, as the music papers soon dubbed her. Britain’s adopted daughter was growing up in public.

Kylie was still looking for musical nirvana, however. Productions with James Dean Bradfield of the Manic Street Preachers were scoffed at (although a collaboration with Nick Cave got rave reviews), sending Kylie in search of the perfect pop song. Her fifth studio album, Light Years, had a number of them, including her comeback single, Spinning Around, which gave the Aussie singer her first Number One in several years.

You could call Kylie the comeback kid, but for many people the Antipodean beauty never went away. In 2002, her double-platinum album Fever featuring the hit single Can't Get You Out Of My Head broke the US market and opened the singer up to a new audience who won't remember her Charlene days. Unfortunately, her personal life hasn't been so successful, with a highly-publicised split from model James Gooding in 2002.